Cnr Alice and Edward Sts Mittagong | Sundays at 10.30am
Mittagong Presbyterian Community Church Privacy Policy May 2015
This statement outlines the Mittagong Presbyterian Community Church (MPCC) policy on how MPCC and its associated ministries are to use and manage personal information provided to or collected by it.
MPCC respects and values the personal information entrusted to it. MPCC will comply with the National Privacy Principles (NPPs) in the Commonwealth Privacy Act (1991), hereafter referred to as the Act, in all its dealings with your personal information.
The primary purpose of collecting this information is to enable MPCC to provide spiritual and pastoral care and in meeting its legal obligations, to provide care for children while they are under its supervision, and to discharge its duty of care.
1. What kind of personal information does MPCC collect? How is it collected?
Information collected by MPCC about members of the Church and visitors to the various congregations is, almost without exception, voluntarily provided by the member or visitor. This information generally relates to contact information, relationships within a family group and association of individuals with various groups or events within the Church context – such as membership of a growth group or congregation.
1.1 Personal information you provide
MPCC will generally collect personal information held about an individual in one of the following ways:
• forms, including online forms, completed either by the person or by a parent/guardian;
• face to face meetings;
• interviews;
• telephone calls.
1.2 Personal information provided by other people
In some circumstances MPCC may be provided with personal information about an individual from a third party, e.g. a reference about an applicant for a position.
Personal information collected from children may be disclosed to their parents or guardians. Parents or guardians may seek access to personal information collected about them and their son/daughter as specified in part 5.3 of this policy.
1.3 Exception in relation to employee records
This policy does not apply in relation to the treatment of an employee record, where the information is directly related to a current or former employment relationship between MPCC and the employee. These records are specifically exempt from the application of the Act.
2. How will MPCC use the personal information you provide?
MPCC will use personal information you provide for any of the following purposes:
• the provision of spiritual and pastoral care services to its community (the primary purpose);
• such other secondary purposes as are related to the primary purpose;
• any other purpose to which you have consented.
MPCC will use health information for the primary purpose that you provide it for, and not for any other secondary purpose, unless one of the exceptions in the Act applies.
2.1 Children and their parents and/or guardians
MPCC collects information about children and their parents and/or guardians to enable it to provide spiritual and pastoral care. Information may also need to be collected if MPCC organizes other activities such as play groups, Sunday School etc.
The purposes for which MPCC uses personal information of children and their parents and/or guardians include:
• Communicating with parents and/or guardians about matters relating to their child’s spiritual and pastoral care;
• Day to day administration;
• Satisfying MPCC’ legal obligations and allowing MPCC to discharge its duty of care.
In some cases where MPCC requests personal information about a child or parent and/or guardian and the information is not obtained, the child may not be able to be enrolled in a MPCC program for which the information was requested.
2.2 Adults
Information is used for purposes similar to those relating to children.
2.3 Job applicants, staff members, volunteers and contractors
The purpose of collecting information related to job applications, or information related to volunteers, contractors or members of staff is to assess the suitability of the person or persons for a particular role in MPCC and, if successful, employ or engage the person or persons concerned.
The purposes for which MPCC uses this information includes:
• Administering the person’s employment or contract;
• Insurance requirements;
• MPCC legal obligations.
2.4 Taxation
This information may also be used for accounting purposes, including complying with taxation requirements if required by law.
3. To whom might MPCC disclose personal information?
Subject to the Act, MPCC may disclose personal information held about an individual to:
• Government departments;
• Medical practitioners;
• Volunteers or staff who provide some form of service to members of MPCC and need to know information for pastoral or duty of care reasons;
• People providing services to MPCC;
• Recipients of MPCC publications;
• Parents and/or guardians;
• Anyone you authorise MPCC to disclose information to.
Information received from members of MPCC or those who use its services may be used to seek financial or other forms of support from them. We will not disclose any personal information to third parties for fundraising purposes.
4. How does MPCC treat sensitive information?
MPCC will not collect sensitive information about you unless you consent, it has significant pastoral relevance or it is required by law. If sensitive information is collected, then it will be used and disclosed only for the purposes for which it was provided, or for a directly related secondary purpose, unless you agree otherwise, or the use or disclosure of the sensitive information is required by law.
MPCC does not normally collect health information, but in the event that they do so, it will only be in accordance with its obligations under the Act.
5. Management and security of personal information
MPCC staff are required to respect the confidentiality of personal information and the privacy of individuals.
5.1 Updating personal information
MPCC endeavours to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate, complete, and up to date. Persons may seek, and are encouraged, to update their personal information held by MPCC by primarily accessing their data stored on the MPCC web site. You can view your information by contacting the Church Office Office@mpcc.org.au) and requesting access to that information.
MPCC has procedures in place to ensure that it conducts reviews of the personal information that it holds to ensure that the personal information it has collected or proposes using or disclosing is actually complete and up to date.
MPCC makes every effort not to store personal information longer than necessary. The time required to store information may change in relation to the type of information stored and any legal obligations through the Act.
5.2 Security of Personal Information
MPCC has in place steps to protect the personal information it holds from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure by use of various methods which as a minimum standard includes storing paper records in locked cabinets and pass-word protected access rights to computers which contain computerised records of personal information.
MPCC will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information if it does not need it for any purpose for which it may have been used or disclosed.
MPCC holds some information (such as name and address details, group involvement and attendance records) about members of the church congregation.
Personal financial account information, such as bank account details, credit card details, or giving records may be required to be stored within web based servers located within financial institutions for the purposes of direct debit procedures or other financial transactions.
5.3 You have the right to check what personal information MPCC holds about you
Under the Act, and with some exceptions, an individual has the right to obtain access to any personal information that MPCC holds about them, and to advise MPCC of any perceived inaccuracy. Children will have access to their personal information through their parents and/or guardians.
To make a request to access any information MPCC holds about you or your child, please contact MPCC Office (Office@mpcc.org.au) and request that we send you a ‘Request for Personal Information Form’, which must be completed before MPCC can give access to you to personal, sensitive or health information. MPCC may require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require.
There are exceptions as to when MPCC may provide you with access to personal information. It will depend upon the circumstances surrounding your request as to whether MPCC can disclose that personal information to you. As such, each request for access to personal information will be assessed on a case by case basis, either by the Pastor/ Moderator, Pastor or, in some cases, the session of MPCC (whichever is deemed to be the most appropriate by the Pastor/ Moderator).
MPCC will not charge you for applying to lodge a request for access.
If MPCC denies you access to personal information, you will be given reasons for that denial.
5.4 Consent and right of access to the personal information of children
MPCC respects every parent and/or guardian’s right to make decisions concerning their children’s spiritual upbringing and care. Generally, MPCC will refer any requests for consent and notices in relation to personal information of a child to the parent and/or guardian. MPCC will treat consent given by a parent and/or guardian as consent given on behalf of the child, and notices to parents and/or guardians will act as notices given to the child.
5.5 You have the right to have information removed from MPCC storage.
It is your right to have information removed from storage by Mittagong Presbyterian Community Church, subject to any legal requirements that may be placed on that information. If you wish to have information deleted a request should be submitted to Office@mpcc.org.au
There may be cases where removal of information will exclude participation by a person in an event due to the requirements of MPCC in discharging its duty of care (see also 2.1).
6. Identifiers
MPCC does not adopt Commonwealth identifiers, such as Medicare numbers, to identify an individual.
7. Anonymity
If you make arrangements with MPCC, you have the option of not identifying yourself whenever it is lawful and practicable that you not have to do so. Please contact the Session Clerk or Pastor to implement this (Office@mpcc.org.au).
8. Enquiries
If you would like further information about the way MPCC manages the personal information it holds, please contact the Church Office at Office@mpcc.org.au
Appendix I – Email
MPCC makes use of email to communicate and adheres to the Spam Act 2003. The Spam Act has three steps of application; Consent, Identify and Unsubscribe.
Consent is given through the form of “Inferred Consent” from information taken from information slips and other transactions of personal information. In all transmissions made by email, MPCC will clearly identify that the message is from MPCC and will give a short explanation as to how to unsubscribe from the mailing list.
Please note that emails sent to MPCC through the address <office@MPCC.org.au> may be viewable by all officers i.e. Elders and Pastor who are aware the significance of this policy.
MPCC is a Presbyterian Church within the Illawarra Presbytery of the NSW Presbyterian Church of Australia (NSWPCoA).
MPCC is governed by a Session and a Committee of Management.
Information about how the church governance works can be downloaded from the NSWPCoA web site http://pcnsw.org.au/index.php/code-administration-forms/the-code-and-policies/